Verify PAN Status Online 2026: Name, DOB, OTP & Safe PAN Checks

The Income Tax Department provides an official pre-login “Verify PAN Status” service. It lets you confirm whether a known PAN is active and whether details such as the name and date of birth/date of incorporation match the PAN database. The service is for verification; it is not a public reverse-search tool for discovering an unknown person's PAN from only a name, mobile number or date of birth.

How to verify a PAN online in 2026

1. Open the official Income Tax e-Filing portal.
2. Under Quick Links, select Verify PAN Status.
3. Enter the PAN number, full name, date of birth/date of incorporation and a valid mobile number accessible to you.
4. Select Continue and wait for the 6-digit OTP.
5. Enter the OTP and complete validation.
6. After successful validation, the portal displays the PAN status/result.

OTP rule: The Income Tax Department user manual states that the OTP remains valid for 15 minutes and permits three attempts. If the OTP expires, use the portal's resend/regenerate option.

What the verification service can and cannot do

Verification is different from PAN correction

Verifying a PAN does not alter the PAN database. If the portal shows that a PAN is active but the name, date of birth or another record is incorrect, the taxpayer may need to use an authorised PAN correction/update process. Repeating the Verify PAN Status process will not correct master data.

Verify PAN Status is also different from applying for a PAN, requesting an Instant e-PAN, linking PAN with Aadhaar, changing contact details in an e-Filing profile or requesting a physical PAN card reprint. Each service has a different purpose.

If you forgot your own PAN number

Check records that legitimately belong to you, such as Form 16/Form 16A, a previous ITR acknowledgement, AIS/Form 26AS records, bank or demat KYC files, loan documentation, PAN correspondence or your own e-Filing profile. If further assistance is required, use the Income Tax portal or an authorised PAN service channel.

Avoid websites or apps claiming that they can reveal anyone's PAN from a name, date of birth, mobile number or address. PAN is a sensitive tax identifier and unauthorised databases create privacy and fraud risks.

PAN verification for vendors, customers and employees

For finance and accounts teams, PAN verification is useful during vendor onboarding, TDS master creation, employee tax documentation and investigations of mismatches between an invoice name, ERP master and tax records. The objective is not merely to collect a PAN copy but to confirm that the legal name and identifier being used for compliance are consistent.

A practical workflow is to obtain the PAN through an approved KYC process, verify it through an authorised service, compare the legal name with the vendor or employee master, document any mismatch and correct the ERP before TDS or return filing. This reduces avoidable defaults caused by wrong PAN reporting.

Example: vendor PAN mismatch

Suppose an invoice is issued by “ABC Consulting Private Limited”, but the PAN supplied does not validate against the legal name entered by the accounts team. Do not guess a different PAN or search unofficial databases. Ask the vendor to confirm its legal name and PAN documentation, verify the corrected details through the authorised service, and then update the vendor master before filing TDS information.

External agencies and bulk PAN/TAN verification

The Income Tax Department provides a separate workflow for registered external agencies and approved bulk users. These services are controlled facilities and are not equivalent to a public PAN search engine. Businesses with a genuine large-scale verification requirement should use authorised access rather than scraping websites or purchasing PAN datasets.

Common reasons PAN verification fails

• The PAN has been typed incorrectly, including confusion between letters and numbers.
• The full name does not match the PAN database format.
• The date of birth/date of incorporation is wrong.
• The OTP expired before validation.
• The permitted OTP attempts were exhausted.
• The PAN has a status issue requiring follow-up with the appropriate tax/PAN service channel.
• Recently corrected records have not yet been reflected in another linked system.

What to do if name or DOB does not match

1. Recheck the spelling and order of the name.
2. Confirm the date format and DOB/date of incorporation.
3. Compare the details with the latest PAN record and supporting legal documents.
4. If the PAN database itself needs correction, use the authorised correction process.
5. After the correction is processed, verify again and update relevant employer, bank, GST, demat, TDS or other records.

Verify PAN vs other PAN services

Security checklist

1. Prefer the official Income Tax e-Filing website and authorised PAN service channels.
2. Check the domain before entering PAN, DOB or mobile information.
3. Never disclose an OTP to an unknown caller or message sender.
4. Do not pay an unofficial site merely to “find PAN by name”.
5. Do not upload PAN copies to websites without a legitimate purpose.
6. For business KYC, restrict access to employees who genuinely need PAN data.
7. Apply appropriate document-retention and deletion controls.

Frequently asked questions

Related tax checks

After PAN verification, finance teams should also reconcile the taxpayer/vendor data appearing in tax information systems. See our guide on AIS vs Form 26AS vs TIS for practical reconciliation points.

Official references

• Income Tax Department — Verify Your PAN User Manual
• Income Tax e-Filing portal